"...She had quite a talent for drawing."
"She liked drawing, too."
"All her teachers said the child had an exceptional talent for drawing."
Whenever he spoke of this, even though Old Master Tang felt troubled about the child's condition, he still could not hide the pride on his face.
"She liked drawing portraits?"
Calling the child a genius did explain this overly mature style of drawing.
Old Master Tang opened his mouth.
A hint of hesitation and inner conflict appeared on his face.
"I..."
"In my memory, Tangtang never used to like drawing portraits this much..."
"Even when she drew them, they weren't this realistic..."
"One day..."
"She suddenly seemed to become very fond of drawing portraits."
As for exactly which day, he—
Ah.
A flash of inspiration struck Old Master Tang.
"It seemed to start the day she stopped going out..."
Old Master Tang's voice began to tremble.
Wait...
He was frightened by his own conjecture.
Even though his conjecture had yet to fully take shape.
He only had a vague idea.
Yet it had already frightened him.
"Old Tang."
Old Master Jiang placed a hand on Old Master Tang's shoulder.
Old Master Tang calmed down considerably.
"Sorry."
It seemed that from the moment he began telling Old Master Jiang about Tangtang...
His emotions had been somewhat out of control.
Perhaps he had kept them suppressed for too long.
The child's parents thought he was worrying unnecessarily and overthinking things.
Although he denied it inwardly, since he had no actual evidence, he could not argue with the child's parents with any confidence...
He could only swallow all his words.
Now that he had finally found someone who would listen to him, and who might even be able to resolve his worries...
The floodgates of his